James....I sympathise with you and your fellow commuters in the middle of this and I think the time has come for state intervention running the service, but trust me.... the accusation made above by the RMT is very much a Pot, Kettle, Black situation. They will have pulled a few illegal and commuter bashing strokes of their own in pursuit of their objective.

Both sides cannot be trusted anymore and action needs to be taken to restore a half decent service for thousands of commuters at their wits end.

Obviously the responsibility of the Union is to safeguard this wishes and jobs of its members. Overall the unions do contribute to the benefit of society as a whole, but their specific aim should always be to be of benefit to their members.

You don't pay them any dues so although they have an obligation to society as whole, it would come below their obligation to their members.

Basically what it comes down to now is both sides just need to stop trying to claim they have the bigger d!ck (and this includes the government who are clearly behind Southern stance). Reach some bloody compromise.

Whether people like it or not this is obviously an issue for Southern staff. They are losing pay every time they go out on strike. If they didn't believe in the cause they might risk a couple of days but not this prolonged campaign.

You might not agree with that cause but for the benefit of the commuters who use the service, some sort of compromise on the terms has to be agreed.

Edited by OknotOK (12 Dec 2016 12.10pm)

It would have been sorted a lot earlier between us if the Hol's biggest sh1t-stirrer hadn't started coaching/mentoring behind the scenes and fanning the flames to promote his own agenda.

7 mins and myself have now exchanged pleasantries ourselves by PM and whereas we might not ever agree politically, we will at least be civil to each other in public from now on.... which is of course how Hol operates best.

Good luck to anybody trying to get to work and/or Palace on wednesday night.... hopefully the matter can be resolved amicably soon.... the only loser in all this is Joe Public.

Edited by Hoof Hearted (12 Dec 2016 9.50am)

From RMT Press Office

Monday 12 December 2016

Immediate

RMT calls for ORR investigation into Southern sabotage of rail services

RAIL UNION RMT will today write to the Office of Road and Rail demanding an urgent investigation after it emerged that Southern Rail cancelled up to 90% of its services from the south coast over the weekend due to "staff shortages" when in fact there were train crew in the depots ready to work and awaiting instructions.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;

"Southern have moved from a position peddling lies to one of deliberate sabotage of services just to give them another excuse to stick the boot into their own staff. That is a disgraceful and cynical development that proves that the company could not give two hoots about the travelling public, running a safe and reliable rail service or resolving the current dispute.

"Throughout the past year the Office of Road and Rail, supposedly an independent regulator, have either sat on their hands or sided with Southern Rail. It is now time for the ORR to get off their backsides and thoroughly investigate this scandal on Britain's biggest rail franchise."

Ends

Geoff Martin.